Plastic-bag ban faces an even bigger fight: Breaking View

Residents of the 11 Southern California cities and counties that have banned single-use plastic shopping bags probably have adapted to the laws, but the effort remains controversial statewide.

As the latest attempt at a state ban faced the Assembly Natural Resources Committee Wednesday, the plastic-bag manufacturers’ lobby rolled out TV commercials opposing the bill.

The ads pick on state Sen. Alex Padilla, calling SB 270 “Padilla’s dirty deal” and implying the Van Nuys Democrat is leading the effort in order to please campaign contributors from the grocery industry.

Supporters of a California plastic-bag ban, which the editorial board favors, must fight back against the naysayers. Tell your senator and Assembly member to back the legislation. Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, the lone Southern Californian on the Natural Resources Committee, voted to for SB 270 in Wednesday’s meeting.

The bill introduced in January by Padilla, Sen. Kevin de Leon of Los Angeles and Sen. Ricardo Lara of Long Beach — all Democrats — would expand the bans now familiar in Los Angeles (the city and the county), Long Beach, Calabasas, Culver City, Glendale, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Pasadena, Santa Monica and West Hollywood.

It would phase out single-use plastic bags, starting at supermarkets and drugstores in July 2015 and moving to smaller stores a year later. Making it different from failed past bills, it would provide $2 million in seed money for plastic-bag manufacturers to retool and retrain workers to make reusable plastic bags. That compromise won the support of de Leon and Lara, who had opposed a ban for fear of job losses.

California uses about 14 billion single-use plastic bags each year, of which less than 5 percent are recycled. The state spends $25 billion to collect and bury the waste, but a lot ends up in the ocean, accounting for most marine debris.

The issue has been quiet since Southern Californians got used to the L.A. city ban that started Jan. 1. But it has returned.

Tell state representatives not to turn back until California is the first state to enact this environmental protection.